This article is from the source 'washpo' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/st-marys-judge-rules-that-girl-17-be-tried-in-juvenile-court-in-abuse-of-autistic-boy/2014/05/29/354d3644-e74f-11e3-8f90-73e071f3d637_story.html?wprss=rss_homepage

The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Girl, 17, pleads guilty in juvenile court in abuse of autistic boy in St. Mary’s County Girl, 17, pleads guilty in juvenile court in abuse of autistic boy in St. Mary’s County
(about 5 hours later)
Lauren A. Bush, 17, the older of two girls accused of repeatedly assaulting a 16-year-old autistic boy, pleaded guilty Thursday in St. Mary’s County juvenile court to two misdemeanor charges, a surprising setback for prosecutors who wanted her tried in adult court, where she could have faced as much as 80 years in prison. A Southern Maryland judge outraged that two girls tormented a 16-year-old autistic boy nevertheless ruled Thursday that the older of the two should not be tried as an adult.
St. Mary’s Judge Michael Stamm will formally sentence Bush next week, but at most she would serve four years in a secure juvenile detention center in Maryland or outside the state. Bush pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and distribution of an obscene video. St. Mary’s County Circuit Judge David Densford moved the case against Lauren A. Bush, 17, from adult court, where the Chopticon High School junior could have faced up to 80 years in prison, to the juvenile system, where she faces a maximum of four years.
The plea deal marked a defeat for law enforcement authorities. Earlier Thursday in St. Mary’s County Circuit Court, prosecutor John Pleisse tried to persuade a judge that Bush’s case should remain in adult court, where she could have been tried on two first-degree assault charges that carry 25-year sentences each. Bush and a 15-year-old friend used a cellphone to record the abuse, which included holding a butcher knife to the boy’s throat and luring him onto a partially frozen pond, then refusing to help when he fell in.
But St. Mary’s County Circuit Court Judge David Densford ruled that even though Bush’s conduct was “chilling,” she did not deserve to be sent to an adult women’s prison. He said a secure juvenile facility would instead ensure her rehabilitation and safety for the community. “The conduct on the DVDs, and her statements to the police are outrageous. There is a lack of empathy . . . a dramatic lack of empathy,” Densford said. “You look at them and say, ‘Why would any human being treat another person like this?’ ”
The other girl in the case, a 15-year-old whom the boy considered his girlfriend, was sentenced in April to a maximum of six years in a state juvenile detention facility. But he also acknowledged evidence that Bush suffered trauma as a child and multiple concussions as a Chopticon cheerleader. And he concluded that it didn’t make sense to send her to an adult prison.
The girls’ arrest in March and details about their alleged crimes — which included coercing the boy onto a frozen pond, which he crashed through, and trying to force him into sex with his family dog — prompted outrage online, news stories in worldwide media outlets and disgust within Southern Maryland’s special education community. Prosecutors obtained cellphone footage of the girls’ behavior, which also included filming him while encouraging him to have sex with his family’s dog. “This outrageousness, this ugliness does not make it the sort of criminal activity that should subject Lauren Bush to the Jessup women’s prison,” Densford said.
The case has been especially fraught because the boy, who is highly functioning, his parents say, has said in interviews with The Post that he still considers the girls his friends and wants them released. Now, according to his mother, the boy has said he’s “over” the girls and wants to move on. The decision to prosecute Bush as a juvenile marked a defeat for county law enforcement authorities, who wanted Bush to be punished as severely as possible in the high-profile case.
Instead of facing possible convictions in adult court on two first-degree assault charges, the teenager pleaded guilty in juvenile court Thursday to distribution of an obscene video and two misdemeanor charges of second-degree assault.
Bush said little and teared up for much of the court proceedings. Shackled at her feet and dressed in sneakers, khakis and an oversize gray sweatshirt, she looked far younger than 17.
Her father, Larry Bush, briefly testified and said his daughter was sorry. He told the court that Lauren has apologized once to the boy, but it was unclear when.
“We’re 100 percent committed to getting Lauren all the help she needs,” he said.
John Pleisse, the county prosecutor in the case, could not be reached to comment after the hearing.
The victim’s parents, who had forced themselves to watch the videos earlier this month, were divided about how they felt about the judge’s decision. The boy’s mother said she’d been persuaded that Bush deserved rehabilitation in a juvenile facility. But his father, a federal government contracting analyst, disagreed.
“I think she’s a danger to herself and to the community,” he said.
Bush’s accomplice, a 15-year-old girl, was sentenced in juvenile court in April to a maximum of six years in a secure juvenile facility, having pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and displaying an obscene photograph of a boy. (Because the 15-year-old was originally charged as a juvenile and never named by law enforcement authorities, The Washington Post is not identifying her.)
The girls’ arrest in March and details about their crimes — which also included trying to run the boy over with a car and encouraging him to try to have sex with his family’s dog — prompted outrage online, in news stories worldwide and disgust within Southern Maryland.
All three teenagers knew each other at Chopticon High, and the boy, who is high-functioning, considered the girls his friends. Sheriff’s deputies learned about the abuse in early March after a Chopticon student tipped them off that the 15-year-old’s cellphone contained the incriminating video recordings. The confiscated videos led to the girls’ arrest.
At Thursday’s hearing, the judge cited the 32-page police report and read aloud some of Bush’s statements after she was caught by authorities. Some of her remarks included:
“We should have erased the videos,” and “We were stupid. We’ll be smarter after this, or locked behind bars.” And after authorities arrived at her home to arrest her, she told them: “I have a project tomorrow. I can’t go to jail.”
The judge was steamed. “If the conduct isn’t outrageous enough, the comments afterward make it worse,” he said. “This is not an empathetic or remorseful person from the totality of the evidence.”
Bush’s attorney, Brian Thompson, said that one reason the judge ruled in Bush’s favor is that she voluntarily committed herself to a Montgomery County juvenile detention center last month rather than remain under house arrest. The judge cited her progress report from the juvenile center, which indicated that she was a “low-to-moderate” risk to the community, and the state’s juvenile services department’s recommendation that she should get treatment in a juvenile facility, not in an adult prison.
“She should have been treated as a juvenile from day one — she’s been publicly and permanently named and turned into a pariah as a result of this, and that never goes away,” Thompson said. “I think the judge made a brave decision in light of the public outcry. But from a strictly legal perspective, it was a straightforward case.”